UnitedHealth buying home health care provider in $3.3B deal

UnitedHealth Group has struck a deal to acquire home health care provider Amedisys Inc. for $3.3 billion in an all-cash deal.

UnitedHealth's Optum unit made the unsolicited bid earlier this month for Amedisys, which at the time had already agreed to a $2.8 billion merger with Illinois-based Option Care Health.

A UnitedHealth spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to comment.

Optum's June 5 offer was for $100 per share for the Baton Rouge, La.-based provider. In the deal agreed to on Monday, UnitedHealth will pay $101 per share for the company, according to Amedisys.

Tyler Giesting, director of the health care and life sciences division of Chicago-based West Monroe, said the deal shows UnitedHealth recognizes that more health care services are moving into homes.

"It just positions Optum and UnitedHealth Group to continue to capitalize on this transition to home [health care]," said Giesting.

West Monroe, which has an office in Minneapolis and considers the Twin Cities a core market, provides consulting and transaction advisory services for health care and life science businesses.

The deal needs to be approved by regulators and Amedisys shareholders. The proposed acquisition could also draw antitrust attention from the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC unsuccessfully challenged Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth's $13 billion acquisition of Tennessee-based Change Healthcare, which closed in October.

Giesting said that the Amedisys deal will probably draw a "higher level of scrutiny" from the FTC.

In its initial announcement of the offer for Amedisys, UnitedHealth stated, "In-home care is provided by thousands of organizations nationwide, with no single participant having more than a single-digit percentage share, a core reason Optum is confident it can secure approval for the combination."

Amedisys reported revenue of $2.2 billion and net income of $117.7 million for 2022.